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Dallas logged its fifth straight month in February as the highest-performing metropolitan area for small business employment growth, according to the Paychex/IHS Small Business Jobs Index released today.

The index for Dallas in February was 103.51. Houston rebounded from January to rank No. 2 among metro areas, despite low oil prices. Paychex/IHS analyzed data for the largest 20 metro areas. (See chart below.)

Texas ranked No. 2 among the 20 most populated states, with an index reading of 103.23. Indiana was No. 1. (See chart below.)

Nationwide, small business employment gained steam in February, rebounding from lower levels in the fall and early winter and growing near late summer’s pace.

The Paychex/IHS index grew in February for the second straight month, up 0.19 percent. For the last 12 months, however, the national index declined 0.31 percent.

“Small business job gains have accelerated in the New Year as the U.S. economy continues to improve,” said James Diffley, chief regional economist at IHS.

Payroll processor Paychex, Inc. analyzes employment trends based on real small business payroll data from about 350,000 of its small business clients (those with fewer than 50 workers nationwide).

The official government data for private- and public-sector jobs won’t come out until March 4 as the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics benchmarks the statistics.

“Hiring in Texas was well below recent trends,” said Ahu Yildirmaz, head of the ADP Research Institute. “This may be due to falling oil prices making businesses in related industries cautious about adding head count.”

Indeed, several companies already have announced job cuts totaling tens of thousands in Texas and other states as well as reduced corporate spending. Despite recent rise, oil prices have fallen about 55 percent since last summer.

In December, Texas gained 45,700 jobs, the most since last May. Texas led the nation in job creation in all of 2014, adding 457,900 jobs — the most jobs ever created in the state.

ADP forecasts that the vast majority of Texas’ new jobs in January were in service industries. By industry, it estimates Texas gained:

* Professional and business services: 6,400 jobs

* Trade, transportation and utilities: 4,500 jobs

* Energy and construction: 3,400 jobs

* Manufacturing: 1,100 jobs

The nation’s South, which includes Texas, continues to outperform the rest of the country in private job growth. ADP estimated that region added 86,000 jobs in January, for a 0.20 percent growth rate.

The West was second, with 66,000 private jobs, or a 0.25 percent growth rate. The Midwest gained 38,000 jobs for 0.14 percent growth, and the Northeast added 23,000 jobs for 0.10 percent growth.

The recent stock market drop doesn’t warrant another round of Federal Reserve stimulus — or bond purchases known as quantitative easing, Richard Fisher, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, told Fox Business Network today.

“It’s much too early to even think about another quantitative easing,” Fisher told Fox. “As we’ve been saying for a long time, we’ve already fed the market too much Ritalin. And now [with the tapering] the market is correcting itself without our involvement.”

The Fed is winding down its bond purchases this month and it ended its third QE round in October.

“A market correction doesn’t mean the economy is in trouble,” Fisher said. The Dow plunged more than 450 points Wednesday as economic data added to worries of a global economic slowdown.

Fisher, who voted last year on Fed policy, is a policy hawk who worries more about inflationary pressures. However, he told Fox that his views on a new QE are shared by other central bankers, including Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen and European Central Bank president Mario Draghi.

Fisher will retire on March 19. Here are some excerpts of his comments to Fox on other economic topics:

Inflation: “I don’t worry about inflation right now.” The Dallas Fed’s trim mean measurement — an alternative measure of core inflation in the price index for consumer spending — is running between 1.6 percent and 1.7 percent on a 12 month basis. The Fed’s target rate is 2 percent.

Interest rates: “If we were to see employment continue to increase, we’re getting much, much better on that front and you begin to see the wage price pressures, that should govern what we do with interest rates.”

U.S. dollar: “There’s too much hand wringing about the strong dollar. It’s not at all clear that a strong dollar will hurt the economy. Many retailers buy their materials from abroad, and a strong dollar helps them. So it’s good for retailers, and the lower price of gasoline is very good for consumers and the economy.”

“Audit The Fed” bill: “We are — I’ll be blunt — we are audited out the wazoo. Every Federal Reserve Bank has a private auditor. We have our auditor of the system. We have our own inspector general. We are audited. That’s not what he’s talking about. What he’s talking about is politicizing monetary policy.”

Fisher and other Fed officials have criticized Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul reintroduction last month of his Audit the Fed legislation.

Now, I’ve learned that the Dallas-Fort Worth area added more jobs in 2014 than any other metropolitan area.

D-FW gained 136,900 jobs last year, followed by the New York area, with 129,000 jobs, according to government data released today. The Houston areas was No. 3, with 120,600 jobs.

North Texas has seen an incredible surge in jobs as big companies, such as State Farm Insurance, either announced corporate relocations or new offices.

Job growth in North Texas is expected to continue. For example, Toyota is moving its North American headquarters to Plano will be home to 4,000 employees by 2017. And today, my colleague, Steve Brown, wrote that Boston-based Liberty Mutual Insurance is in talks with developers and the City of Plano about building a service center that could house more than 4,000 workers.

The largest percentage gain in employment last year was in Midland (6 percent) and Longview (5.2 percent) — most certainly related to the oil boom in those areas. Each added 5,300 jobs.

The Atlantic City, N.J., area saw the largest decrease in employment by number and percent: -8,100 jobs or -6 percent.

Overall, employment in 2014 increased in 312 metropolitan areas, decreased
in 49 and was unchanged in 11.

Note: None of the metro data has been adjusted for seasonal variations.

Texas employment grew “robustly” in 2014, Mine Yücel, director of research for the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas, says in the regional bank’s Texas economic update video released today.

Note: The numbers and percentages in the video are different from those I’ve reported in the past from the Texas Workforce Commission and U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics because the Dallas Fed benchmarks its data each month.

In the latest 2.27-minute video, Yücel tells us that Texas’ employment grew 3.6 percent in 2014, adding 409,000 jobs. And the state’s unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent — the lowest level since May 2008.

By industry, construction saw the fastest job growth rate in last year, up 8.1 percent or nearly 51,000 jobs, she says. The oil and gas industry was No. 2, with employment up 7.4 percent or 21,000 jobs. Professional and business services added the most jobs, nearly 95,000, or up 6.4 percent.

Yücel expects the steep decline in the price of oil — down 60 percent since June — will slow growth this yea. While low oil prices helps the U.S. economy (consumers and refineries, in particular), they hurt Texas (oil producers and any industry that benefited from the oil boom), she explains.

For example, the Texas drilling rig count fell by 90 just in January and several companies have announced reductions in capital spending and job cuts. Moody’s Investors Service today said it expects its most important North American customers to cut capital investments by 30 percent to 40 percent.

Just today the Texas Workforce Commission said four companies had notified it of layoffs: General Electric (formerly Lufkin Industries) will lay off 330 workers; Trican Well Service will cut 125 jobs; rig contractor Lariat Services will cut 26 jobs; and Sandridge Energy will lay off 25 people.

Yücel thinks Texas’ job growth will be in the rank of 2 percent to 2.5 percent this year, or 235,000 to 295,000 new jobs.

She also thinks Texas could see half as much severance tax revenue this year from 2014 if oil production slides and exports and related manufacturing could suffer from a stronger U.S. dollar.

Still, Yücel does not foresee recession looming for Texas.

This is the third such video. I blogged about the video series when it debuted in June. The Dallas Fed tracks lots of economic data and provides economic forecasts by a staff of economists and researchers.

Texas ranked No. 36 nationally for its income poverty rate and No. 30 for its liquid asset poverty rate (a safety net of three months of basic expenses in case of an emergency).

Texas may lead the nation in job creation and have a low unemployment rate, but its residents still fare worse economically than many other states.

Texas continues to rank at or near the bottom among all states on many key measures of household financial security, according to data released today by the Washington, D.C.-based nonprofit Corporation for Enterprise Development. Overall, the state was No. 37 – the same as last year.

Nationally, millions of Americans still struggle despite lower unemployment and an improving economy. Many people work in low-wage jobs, don’t have health insurance and are forced to rely on fringe, often high-cost financial services just to make ends meet

“Many Americans are struggling,” Kasey Weidrech, CFED’s director of applied research and a co-author of the report, said today in a media teleconference. “The reality is that millions of families and individuals still have little opportunity to take charge of their financial lives let alone plan for a more prosperous future. Millions of families have insufficient income to meet their basic needs.”

The U.S. household income poverty rate basically stayed the same at 14 percent for the third straight year, Weidrech said. The rate was higher in Texas, 15.7 percent, ranking the state No. 36.

The data from CFED’s 2015 Assets & Opportunity Scorecardshows that many Americans, including Texans, have recovered unevenly from the 2007-09 recession. Here are some of the key findings for the nation and Texas:

* Underemployment: Although annual unemployment rates fell significantly, one of every eight people was underemployed. In Texas, one of every 10 people was underemployed, ranking the state No. 13.

* Low wages: Low-wage jobs increased in all but two states. One of every four U.S. jobs was in a low-wage occupation, up from 21 percent last year. In Texas, nearly one of every three employees worked in a low-wage job. However, Texas ranked No. 5 in average annual pay ($53,058).

* Home ownership: U.S. home ownership hit a nearly 20-year low of 63.5 percent. it was lower in Texas at 61.8 percent, ranking No. 43.

* Low savings rate: Fifty million U.S. households (44 percent) lack minimum savings to cover three months of basic expenses if an emergency occurs, nearly double from last year. In Texas, the rate was higher, with half of all households without that safety net. In Texas, 64 percent of households have a savings account, ranking No. 40 and below the national rate of nearly 69 percent. The number of Texans participating in an employer-sponsored retirement plan ranked No. 45, with 41.3 percent vs. 45.8 percent nationally.

CFED features an online asset poverty calculator to determine how much in savings your household needs for a safety net (to cover three months of basic living expenses in case of an emergency, such as a sudden job loss or health issue).

*Education: Texas received a “C” in education, ranking No. 50 for the number of people age 25 and older with a high school degree, No. 44 for student loan default rate and No. 38 in 8th-grade reading proficiency.

*Disconnected Youth: Although Texas’ high school graduation rate was No. 3 (88 percent), the state had a higher share of disconnected youth (14.9 percent vs. 13.8 percent for the nation) — the percent of the population age 16-24 who were not in school or were not working in 2013.

* Health care: Texas received an “F” in health care mainly because it has the nation’s highest uninsured rate, with a quarter of its residents without health insurance. Nationally, seven of the 10 states with the highest uninsured rates, including Texas, did not expand Medicaid.

To help its residents improve their financial status, the CFED said Texas should:

Reform predatory lending practices.

Eliminate asset tests for eligibility in state programs, such as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which prevent household saving.

Enable schools to offer college savings accounts in conjunction with the state’s new financial education curriculum.

CFED evaluated how residents are faring across 67 outcome measures in five different issue areas: financial assets and income; businesses and jobs; housing and home ownership; health care; and education. It also examined 68 policy measures to determine how well states are addressing challenges facing residents.

The index declined 0.2 percentage points to 107.5 in November, but it still was 7.2 points above its average for all of 2013 and 35 points above its cyclical low.

“We expect to see more evidence of the economic drag on Texas from lower oil prices in the months ahead,” said Robert A. Dye, chief economist for Dallas-based Comerica Bank. “We expect to see a significant reduction in oil field activity in 2015. This will lead to more layoffs in the energy sector … and reduced local demand for non-energy industries.”

The price of West Texas Intermediate crude oil today was trading at $44.33 a barrel at 3 p.m., down $1.90 from yesterday. The price is down 61 percent since June.

Already, several large companies have announced nearly 20,000 combined layoffs in recent weeks. The latest was United States Steel Corp., which on Monday said it will lay off nearly 2,000 employees at three locations, including Lone Star in East Texas, because of the softer energy market.

The static map above (full list below) does not show Alaska and Hawaii, which generated 14,800 and 26,600 jobs, respectively from 2009 through 2014.

I decided to dig into some government data and found that Texas has created nearly one out of every four jobs nationwide since the recession ended in 2009.

That means Texas generated nearly 1.2 million of the nation’s nearly 4.9 million new jobs in those six years, according to my analysis of data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Texas’ jobs contribution was nearly double that of its closest competitor: 687,800 jobs created in California since 2009. (New Jersey contributed the least to the nation’s employment growth, losing 25,100 jobs during that time.)

Remember, Texas entered the recession later and emerged from it earlier than many other states. The recession started in December 2007 and ended in June 2009, but was followed by one of nation’s the slowest recovery periods ever.

Former Texas Gov. Rick Perry made no bones about aggressively wooing big companies and their employees from other states. Big-name corporate relocations in the last several years, including AT&T, Comerica Bank and Toyota, combined with strong population growth and low taxes have contributed to the state’s employment growth.

The only year in the last decade when Texas lost jobs was 2009 — when it lost 373,700 jobs, ranking at No. 49 (including Washington, D.C.). Only California did worse that year, losing 768,100 jobs.

In 2009, all but two places (North Dakota and Washington, D.C.) saw annual employment declines. North Dakota and Washington, D.C., also were the only two places not to see any annual employment declines in the last decade.

Update at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 28: A reader emailed me asking what the average hourly wage was for these new jobs. So, I did some more number crunching with BLS data and here’s what I found out:

Update at 1:30 p.m., Jan. 28: The Texas average hourly wage for all workers rose 0.2 percent (6 cents) in 2009, declined 0.4 percent (9 cents) in 2010, and rose about 3 percent for each year from 2011 to 2014 (more than 70 cents per year except 2012, when wages rose 6 cents). Overall, those wages rose $2.73, or nearly 13 percent, over the six-year period.

REVENUE: The services revenue index — a key industry measure – fell 10.1 points from December to its lowest level in 11 months.

OTHER: Other service measures were mixed this month.Labor market indicators reflected slower employment growth and slightly longer workweeks. Price and wage pressures eased, though most companies continued to report no change in compensation costs. Company executives’ perceptions of general business activity plunged into negative territory to its lowest reading since October 2011. The company outlook also fell.

COMMENTS: Business executives across many service industries – from investment firms and wholesalers to hotels and entertainment — remain worried about the impact of low oil prices on their business and local economies, in particular the Houston area, and the Texas economy.

FUTURE: The service and retail executives surveyed expressed more pessimism about their company outlook and general business activity over the next six months.

Job applicants this month asked State Farm employee Melissa Wills, at right, questions at a company job fair in Dallas. (Ashley Landis The Dallas Morning News)

It’s official: Texas led the nation in job creation in 2014.

We already knew that Texas added a 457,900 jobs last year — the most jobs ever created in the state. The Texas Workforce Commission reported that on Friday.

Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released data for the nation showing that Texas’ job gain was the most of any other state or Washington, D.C. California was second, with 320,300 new jobs, and Florida was third, with 230,600 new jobs.

Overall last year, employment increased in all 50 states and Washington, D.C.

Texas also led the nation on new jobs for the month of December, adding 45,700. Overall last month, employment increased in 41 states and decreased
in nine states and Washington, D.C.

Unemployment rates

The picture for unemployment rates across the country was only slightly less rosy.

Forty-six states plus Washington, D.C., had lower unemployment rates, seasonally adjusted, in December from a year earlier, according to BLS data. Two states saw higher rates and two states saw no change.

Texas’ unemployment rate fell to 4.6 percent in December from 4.9 percent in November and 6 percent in December 2013.

North Dakota again had the lowest jobless rate (2.8 percent). The nation’s capital had the highest unemployment rate (7.3 percent) nationwide in December. Among the 50 states, Mississippi’s rate was the highest at higher at 7.2 percent.

The U.S. jobless rate declined to 5.6 percent last month from 5.8 percent in November and 6.7 percent in December 2013.

From November to December, 42 states plus Washington, D.C., had lower unemployment rates, four states had higher rates and four states saw no change.